Where is Alan Webb

Re: Where is Alan Webb

There are more young finalists in the distances:
800m, Moise Joseph is 21
1500m, Sean Jefferson is 20
5000m, Louis Luchini is 22
Stteple, Jordan Desilets is 22

Re: Where is Alan Webb

>Again - his only mistake was being so good so
>young. I'm curious - who were the second and
>third youngest finalists amoung men in the 1500,
>st, 5000, 10000?

800m Jonathan Johnson 21
1500m Grant Robison 24
5000m Jorge Torres 22
Steeple Daniel Lincoln 22

Re: Where is Alan Webb

Again - his only mistake was being so good so young. I'm curious - who were the second and third youngest finalists amoung men in the 1500, st, 5000, 10000?

Re: Where is Alan Webb

If Webb never ran that 3:53 in High School he would be called today a promising young miler who needs more experience. How many twenty year olds have run the third fastest mile in the country.

Maybe Webb should have taken the Joe Falcon approach and run a 4:06 in high school and saved the 3:50 for the professional circuit.

Because of his failed expectations, Webb has become a curiosity in US track and field. Everyone senses he will eventually break out of this slump. When he does it could be very interesting. Right now he is the Richard Burton of US miling. He is a great talent that is being wasted.

Will Webb become a record breaker or just a footnote in history?

The Alan Webb saga has now become a soap opera.

Re: Where is Alan Webb

You've
>picked the RARE exceptions to the rule. Sure they
>were successful against the odds. Wanna bet on
>those odds with your future? You'd be looking
>foolish now, running 3:47 1500s and looking
>totally lost. The kid does NOT know how to
>race.

Then do tell what IS the RULE for champion milers? Their coaches?

>NOW what does he do?

He takes stock and moves forward with his plan. What the hell else would he do?

[lagsun]

Re: Where is Alan Webb

His 3:42.87 1500m from indoors only ranks 19th this year in the US

Re: Where is Alan Webb

If Webb has the third fastest US time this year then that just further illustrates there is something wrong with distance running in America.

[lagsun]

Re: Where is Alan Webb

Webb actually has the 3rd fastest outdoor mile this year in the US. Goucher ran 3:57.07 at Victoria on June 11.

[jlanza]

Re: Where is Alan Webb

You mean like Morceli, Ngeny, El G, Coe,
>etc.???


You mean someone like Peter Coe? How about
>Bob Timmons?
3:53 is better than almost all
>American milers.


You've picked the RARE exceptions to the rule. Sure they were successful against the odds. Wanna bet on those odds with your future? You'd be looking foolish now, running 3:47 1500s and looking totally lost. The kid does NOT know how to race.

NOW what does he do?

Re: Where is Alan Webb

Webb is having a bad spell right now.
Still he does have the second fastest US mile time this year. Ok, it is a lame 3:58 by world standards, but it is still the second fastest this year.
He is still twenty years old and could have 15 more years of running ahead of him.

Still he performances this year are rather mediocre.

Right now Lunn is the "guy".

Re: Where is Alan Webb

So what are you
>saying? I doubt that lack of training is the
>problem. I agree he is probably doing killer
>workouts. But the "psychological following the
>phsyical"? What does that mean? To develop
>confidence he needs to get a couple good races
>which isn't happening because he doesn't have the
>confidence to race well -catch 22. As was
>mentioned earlier he needs to be coached on a
>simple race plan - stay as relaxed as possible
>and focus on one key guy - then kick. He is
>probably thinking too much. And having armchair
>quarterbacks like you and me all over the country
>doesn't help.

I'm not quarterbacking Webb, I'm quarterbacking the net fans who like to say his head is messed up. What I meant by the psychological following the physical is that the psychological doesn't matter much; it's mostly a reaction to your fitness and to the resulting performances. What would bring confidence to Webb, or any athlete, is to get in great shape and run fast and win races.

I'll take low confidence and high fitness anyday. Midway through the race the athlete realizes he's having a great day, gets psyched, and kicks ass. The real catch 22 is that to attain high fitness, athletes must walk a fine line between proper hard training and overtraining. If you try too hard and kill yourself in workouts, there's nothing left on race day. God knows I've felt that before; like I said, it's the worst.

Re: Where is Alan Webb

It sounds like he
>simply burns himself out doing killer workouts.
>That often happens when an athlete attempts to
>break through to the next level. The way to do
>it is to increase training volume or intensity,
>but you risk overtraining. Every athlete knows
>what that feels like; it's the worst.


So what are you saying? I doubt that lack of training is the problem. I agree he is probably doing killer workouts. But the "psychological following the phsyical"? What does that mean? To develop confidence he needs to get a couple good races which isn't happening because he doesn't have the confidence to race well -catch 22. As was mentioned earlier he needs to be coached on a simple race plan - stay as relaxed as possible and focus on one key guy - then kick. He is probably thinking too much. And having armchair quarterbacks like you and me all over the country doesn't help. But it is part of the territory of being a big name - he must learn to deal with it or go down never bettering his 3:53.

His workouts are undoubtably tough - probably too tough. Overtraining? Yes, almost certainly. Running stupid in races? definately. Maybe simplify - cut back the volume, work on speed and stick to a simple tactics (sit and kick). He can't do too much worse.

Re: Where is Alan Webb

When
>was the last time he ran a good solid 8?

It wasn't good or solid, but he ran an 8 in MA a few weeks back (1:49).
I agree with el supremo that the psychological follows the physical, and net fans overestimate the psychological component. It sounds like he simply burns himself out doing killer workouts. That often happens when an athlete attempts to break through to the next level. The way to do it is to increase training volume or intensity, but you risk overtraining. Every athlete knows what that feels like; it's the worst.

Re: Where is Alan Webb

>


<Either his
>training is way off of where
>it was in '01 or he
>is still having troubles
>with the mental side.
>Either way he had better
>put it together for
>Sunday - if he leads he
>will be eaten up again.
>His only chance to make
>the top three is to be
>able to call upon that
>once wicked finish in the
>final 2-300.>

What
>wicked finish? He's had a wicked finish in one
>race. That was his Pre race two years ago. In
>that race he was an 'underdog' and on a roll. In
>those situations some people perform better than
>they would when expectations are higher. Even in
>the USATF 1500 in 2001 he didn't have the snap
>down the straight that he showed at Pre. That was
>attributed by some to be a sign that he had
>reached the end of his long season. It just may
>not be there at all.

Webb is also never in
>position to make any kind of move at all. Why he
>wasn't told to stick to Lunn, the most savvy of
>the 1500 runners, and try and kick with him I
>don't know. Maybe he just can't do it.

He did have a great finish at Pre in '01. That just doesn't leave by itself. It has to be trained out of him - which it is what appears to have happened. Maybe too many miles + too much bad racing + pressure = slow finishing and psychological problems.

I agree it was not too difficult to figure out what to do in that race. Lunn was the guy to beat. All you have to do is stick with him and kick. It takes all of the thinking out of the race. All you have to do is prepare to cover Lunn's moves.

Remember when Webb was in high school he was able to get that nice finish by running a lot of 800s. When was the last time he ran a good solid 8?

He is either getting bad advice or is really turning into a headcase or a combination of the two. Either way he is digging a psychological hole that is going to be pretty hard to out of.

I hope he is able to but have doubts.

Re: Where is Alan Webb (new 3:34.90 world standard

What was wrong with the 3:37 standard
>last year?
Having the qualifying time at 3:34.90
>is a little brutal. I quess it is going to be a
>very small field in this years 1500m
>championships.>

The "A" standard is 3:34.90. The "B" standard is 3:37.10.

That means if Lunn wants to go he has to run the "B" standard. If anyone else wants to go then Lunn and they have to run the "A" standard.

I'm not sure what happens if two other guys in the final run the "A" standard and Lunn doesn't.